If something feels like it's missing, it is. The rain.

January was a droughty month, the sixth driest on record, with only 1.86 inches of rain. It was also frigid, with average temperatures falling 5 degrees below normal.

Rio Dell area rancher Steve Hackett said that feed for cattle is short everywhere, and many ranchers are selling cattle because of it.

”The business of ranching is managing feed conditions,” Hackett said.

He is not overly concerned, however, saying that January often has had a dry spell of a couple of weeks. Sheep farmers used to take advantage of that, he said, and aimed for lambs to be born that time of year.

The dry weather hasn't been a bad thing for Ferndale dairyman Jim Regli, president of the Humboldt County Farm Bureau. He said the ground is still moist enough for the grass to grow, without it being too soaked to keep the fields from being muddy like they were through last year's very wet season. He said he won't start to worry unless February and March are especially dry, too.

”I love it, but we also need the rain,” Regli said.

It appears that the area is going to get it. A rainy pattern could set in as soon as tonight, and almost

”At least for the next week or so we're definitely back into wet weather,” said Nancy Dean, meteorologist in charge at the weather service's Eureka office.

Dean said that the long-term forecast calls for February to be a wetter than average month, but looking out three months, it could go either way.

The dry January is worrying people in other parts of the state. The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, which feeds reservoirs that supply water to the most populated and driest parts of the state, is only 57 percent of average, with some areas registering less than 20 percent.

The reservoirs so far are still fairly full, since last year was so wet.